


HAO and Hockey [An Unexpected Adventure]

by orphan_account



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 09:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1382992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: HAO plays hockey - heather-oreilly.tumblr.com<br/>In which Heather O'Reilly discovers that when Canadians find out that you can't play hockey, they will do anything to get you out onto the ice. Even enlist the help of their rival nation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HAO and Hockey [An Unexpected Adventure]

Heather didn’t know a lot about hockey, she had watched it with the rest of her USWNT teammates, sure, but the idea of running around on a sheet of ice on sharp pieces of metal and knocking around a rubber ball with hooked sticks baffled her. It was just... so... Canadian. That was the only way she could put it, glancing across the room to see Stewart, Kyle, and the Canadians from the Thorns hunched over a laptop and muttering excitedly about fistfights and... slashing? HAO blinked in disbelief. What a barbaric sport!  
“Hey Heather, you look green. Are you okay?” Kyle asked. The Canadians all lifted their head in a synchronized movement.  
“I... uh... yeah.” All six heads moved back behind the screen again.  
Heather wondered if they all had a sixth sense that detected when people were uncomfortable with hockey. “Must be a Canadian thing...” She reasoned.

Kaylyn scared her over dinner the next evening, shoving the poor midfielder out of her seat. “HAO, get your hockey gear on, we’re taking you out to the rinks.”  
Heather choked on her mashed potatoes. She motioned for Kaylyn to sit down as she blinked furiously, and thumped her chest, coughing. Once she swallowed, she allowed herself to get a good look at Kaylyn, before all but yelling: “What?”  
Kaylyn shrugged. “We couldn’t get the Canadian team, but the Americans agreed to give you a few lessons, so...”  
HAO blinked. “Wait. Who?”  
“The US National Women’s Ice Hockey Team.” Kaylyn said, brushing away at an imaginary hair on her shoulder, “Not as good as the Canadians, but...”  
“Shouldn’t I be taking baby steps? I don’t know how to skate.” The American reminded her.  
“Huh. Didn’t think of that.”  
“And when is this?”  
“Uhh... tomorrow?” Kaylyn said, looking slightly nervous.  
HAO looked at Kaylyn disapprovingly. “And you didn’t tell me this earlier because?”  
“We had to get you hockey gear!” The Canadian said, excitedly, pulling out a bag from behind the chair, “Sticks, shoulder pads, shin pads...”  
The brunette frowned. “Wouldn’t my soccer shin pads work?”  
Kaylyn looked mortified. “Do you want to break your legs?”  
“Uhh... okay. Go on.”  
“Helmet, gloves...” Heather zoned out as Kaylyn rambled on, until the Canadian pulled out the final object, “and... skates.”  
HAO’s eyes widened, then covered her eyes and groaned. “Oh dear Lord, what have I gotten myself into?”

The hockey gear, as Heather finds out, is not the easiest to move around in. Which basically meant that she could barely move at all. She desperately hoped that Kaylyn wasn’t recording the guttural noises that came from her throat as she tried to dismount from the car, but knowing Kaylyn, if her phone’s out, it’s all on record. Rolling out of the car, HAO fell to the concrete, and laid spread-eagle on the tarmac.  
Kaylyn laughed. “Aren’t you glad you’re wearing all that padding?”  
She stumbled gracefully into the building, but not before crashing into a group of tall, brooding women in front of the doors. Heather apologized, reasoning that if she was going to play a Canadian sport, she should act more like a Canadian as well.  
Kaylyn, naturally, found this hilarious.  
Heather tripped her way to the ice, and banged into the boards, pressing her face up against the plastic and looking out onto the ice. “Well, it doesn’t look too big.”  
A low voice behind her chuckled. “Wait until you do dead skates on them.”  
Heather pivoted on her skate guards, effectively knocking herself off balance, and falling back onto the glass. In front of her was a tall, dark haired woman, carrying a duffle bag, and carrying a hockey stick. “You must be Heather, I’m Hilary Knight.” She extended a gloved hand for the midfielder to shake.  
“Uhh...” Heather stuttered as she fumbled to shake the hockey player’s hand, “Hi. I’m Heather.”  
Hilary laughed. “I know. And you’re wearing your shorts backwards.” She said as she poked the midfielder’s thigh with the butt end of the stick.  
Heather turned bright red.

Getting onto the ice proved to be a challenge that HAO was unprepared to face. Especially with Kaylyn skating circles around the ice, while the brunette struggled to stay upright on dry land. Heather carefully placed one blade onto the ice, running the skate on the ice. Having the entire US Hockey team watching her wasn’t helpful either, especially since they were standing behind her in a line, waiting for the midfielder to get onto the ice. Thankfully, a shove from the forward Meghan Duggan did the trick, and got Heather out onto the ice. Not necessarily still upright, but on the ice, nonetheless.  
Heather slid to the side as the rest of the hockey players burst out onto the ice, some skating around the edge, some stretching, and all shooting glances at the fallen soccer player. Reaching up to the top of the boards, Heather pulled herself up onto the slippery ice, and attempted to take a step forward, only to end up sprawled out on the ice.  
Kaylyn skated over to her, and stopped right by Heather’s cheek, sending a spray of ice shavings all over the midfielder’s head. “Oh, come on HAO.” She said, extending a hand, “It’s not that hard, use those veteran legs of yours.”  
Heather took the hockey stick that Kaylyn offered to her. “Any older, and I think my bones will have crumbled and I would have died.”  
Kaylyn laughed. “HAO, this is USA hockey, and USA hockey is do or die.”  
Heather groaned.

After a good hour, several pieces of advice from the players, lots of avoiding flying pucks, and innumerable falls, Heather could finally skate around the rink unassisted, and with a bit of speed. After completing the lap, Heather leaned on the side of the boards to catch her breath.  
“That... was worse... than the beep test...” She got out between pants, rubbing at her bruised knees.  
Hilary skated up to the duo, and patted the brunette on the back. “Maybe you should just play as a goalkeeper...” She said, concern tingeing her voice.  
“If I skate less-”  
“She’s fine.” They say at the same time. Kaylyn glares at Heather.  
“She’s fine. She’ll play up forward.”  
Heather scratches her helmet with her gloved hand. It proves to be harder than it looks. “Huh? I usually play midfield...”  
“Honey, there is no such thing as midfield in hockey.” Kaylyn said, giving Heather a pointed look.  
“Oh.” Heather scuffed the ice with her skate, but only managed to add a scratch line to the numerous ones already on the ice, “I knew that.”  
As Hilary skated away to rejoin her teammates, Heather leaned over to Kaylyn and gave her an inquisitive look. “Why don’t I want to be a goalkeeper?”  
Kaylyn pointed over to the goal crease, where Jessie Vetter was blocking shots from the skaters around her. One pinged off of her face cage, and fell back down to hit her on top of her head.  
“Oh.”

Many laps, falls, and shots later, Heather headed to the changing rooms to stip off the now sweaty and, quite frankly, disgusting hockey gear. As she undid her laces, she glanced up, and say a flash of blonde hair from a shorter woman, and a name suddenly popped up in her head. “A-rod?”  
The short woman turned around. “Sorry?”  
HAO’s face turned red as she realized that she had mixed some people up. “Nothing, sorry.”  
Shuffling out of the locker room after the awkward encounter, she headed back into the car. “I mixed up someone on the hockey team with A-rod.” She said as she walked towards the car with Kaylyn.  
“Oh, Amanda Kessel? Yeah, I was wondering when that was going to happen.” Heather settled into the seat, and sighed. “Not going to play hockey again?”  
Heather laughed. “Nope, not for a while.”

A week later, a knock is heard on Heather’s door. Groaning, she rolled out of bed, tied her hair up, and opened the door to confront whoever was making a ruckus while she tried to sleep in. The sight before her made her do a second take. “No. No. Just, no.”  
Kaylyn pushed past the mortified midfielder, and dumped the equipment in her living room. “Gear up, buddy, lacrosse season doesn’t wait for anybody.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how this happened. It just did. Does this qualify as a crack!fic? This work is unbetaed, unedited, and... just un-everything. I love it.  
> Hit me up on Tumblr (br0ken-hands.tumblr.com), because... reader and writer connection and all. Yeah. Peace out.


End file.
